Microsoft’s latest Patch Tuesday release has left security teams scrambling to prioritize fixes for 1,093 newly disclosed vulnerabilities, including one actively exploited zero-day in Outlook and several critical flaws in Exchange, SharePoint, and other Microsoft products.
The sheer number of patches released this month is staggering, with 63 vulnerabilities rated critical. One of these, CVE-2026-124194, has already been targeted by attackers, making it a top priority for security teams to address. This vulnerability allows an attacker to spoof an email sender’s identity and potentially disclose the target’s NTLMv2 hash, which could be used to gain unauthorized access to systems.
To understand why this patch is so critical, let’s take a step back: when an attacker exploits this vulnerability, they don’t necessarily gain code execution on the victim’s system. Instead, they can capture the victim’s NT LAN Manager v2 (NTLMv2) hash, which is derived from their Windows password. This information can be used to relay the user’s login credentials to other systems or crack the password itself.
Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday release also includes several critical remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities in Exchange and SharePoint servers. These flaws are particularly concerning because they allow attackers with low-privilege logins to execute arbitrary code on the server, potentially giving them access to sensitive data. In the case of the Exchange Server vulnerability, CVE-2026-118207, researchers warn that it’s an “emergency window” situation – every Exchange Server Subscription Edition server should be patched as soon as possible.
Another critical flaw, CVE-2026-120002 in SharePoint Server, is an elevation of privilege vulnerability. While not as severe as RCE vulnerabilities, it still requires prompt attention. An attacker with a low-privileged account can use this flaw to send requests over the network and elevate their privileges without any user interaction.
In addition to these critical flaws, several other notable CVEs have been disclosed in November’s Patch Tuesday release. One of these is CVE-2026-110043, a one-click heap-based buffer overflow in Outlook that uses the Preview Pane as an attack vector. To exploit this vulnerability, a target must select a weaponized email so it displays in the Preview Pane.
Security teams are already feeling the strain of working out which patches to prioritize first, and Microsoft’s latest release has added to their workload. “Most security teams haven’t quite recovered from the last month of bumper-to-bumper critical vulnerabilities,” says Jake Knott, head of threat intelligence at Watchtowr. “Our advice remains the same: start with what you actually have exposed to the Internet, then what’s already being exploited in the wild, and only then everything else.”
In short, this Patch Tuesday release is a wake-up call for security teams to prioritize their patching efforts and address these critical flaws as soon as possible. Remember that not all patches are created equal – some vulnerabilities may be more severe than others, depending on your organization’s specific setup and exposure.
So what can you do? Start by prioritizing the CVEs mentioned above, particularly the Outlook zero-day and Exchange/SharePoint RCE vulnerabilities. Make sure to patch your internet-facing servers first, and then move on to other systems as needed. Don’t wait until it’s too late – take a proactive approach to securing your organization’s systems today.
Source: Dark Reading — 2026-11-10